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Comics about comics?
This month's Walrus (not yet available online) had a short article and cartoon by Seth about the production of cartoons.
Seth says: "There is something very lovely about the stillness of a comic book page. That austere stacked grid of boxes. The little people trapped in time. Its frozen and silent nature acting almost as a counterpoint to the raucous vulgarity of the modern aesthetic. Of course, the drawings aren't really frozen. When we look at them, we immediately invest them with life. That little ink world pops into life as our eyes move across the drawings. I actually find it very difficult to look at a cartoon and hold on to the stillness. The essence of the cartoon language carries a kind of animation with it. This is true even with a single drawing, but it is especially evident when one panel is placed next to another. That juxtaposition creates a tension that implies motion and time. This illusion is one of the medium's primary bag of tricks."
As a bonus, here's a slideshow of and commentary on some of his other work.
There's Will Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art, and Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, of course, but what other comics about comics are you fond of? I've got The Face of the Artist, by Eddie Campbell (a somewhat different species of fish than the above) on my wish list. And among other things, Alison Bechdel's Fun Home examines the whys and wherefores of cartooning and comics - is it art? (YES!)
And as an extra special bonus, a comic about Fair Use: Bound by Law?
Seth says: "There is something very lovely about the stillness of a comic book page. That austere stacked grid of boxes. The little people trapped in time. Its frozen and silent nature acting almost as a counterpoint to the raucous vulgarity of the modern aesthetic. Of course, the drawings aren't really frozen. When we look at them, we immediately invest them with life. That little ink world pops into life as our eyes move across the drawings. I actually find it very difficult to look at a cartoon and hold on to the stillness. The essence of the cartoon language carries a kind of animation with it. This is true even with a single drawing, but it is especially evident when one panel is placed next to another. That juxtaposition creates a tension that implies motion and time. This illusion is one of the medium's primary bag of tricks."
As a bonus, here's a slideshow of and commentary on some of his other work.
There's Will Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art, and Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, of course, but what other comics about comics are you fond of? I've got The Face of the Artist, by Eddie Campbell (a somewhat different species of fish than the above) on my wish list. And among other things, Alison Bechdel's Fun Home examines the whys and wherefores of cartooning and comics - is it art? (YES!)
And as an extra special bonus, a comic about Fair Use: Bound by Law?